Sound Advice: Weaves by Weaves

Weaves has become Toronto’s mosttalked-about independent band over the last several months, and for good reason. The band has a sound that doesn’t fit neatly into any one genre, but is solid and consistent enough that you can sense a clear vision. That range of that sound is clearly demonstrated on their new self-titled EP.

The core of their sound is the combination of a big, pulsing, shoegaze-y wall of feedback, and the distinctive voice of singer Jasmyn Burke, whose odd vowel pronunciations and ability to move from a wail to a warble are just a little unsettling. This combination gets bent and twisted in myriad ways. It’s almost poppy and insistent on “Motorcycle,” and then it becomes a slow, stoned sludge on “Take a Dip.” “Hulahoop” continues further along the same path: the distortion spreads to Burke’s vocals, and the song deconstructs itself into a kind of slack, shambling, slightly arrhythmic experiment in sound.

Arguably, the most interesting song on the EP is “Do You See Past,” a stripped-down, lo-fi, ‘80s-synth-inspired song that’s a little reminiscent of the chillwave non-sound of a few years ago, or of Chromeo with female vocals and the irony turned way, way down. (You can listen to “Do You See Past” by clicking on the link above.)

Undoubtedly, some music journalist cleverer than we are will find a way to place Weaves in a genre category in the coming months, or, failing that, to invent a genre just for them. In the meantime, we’re just going to hang out and enjoy them.